The Ministry of Education has called on the Ministry for Primary Industries to expand its investigation after a Gisborne schoolboy was allegedly burnt by a school lunch provided by the Government’s revamped free school lunch programme.
The alleged incident is the latest in a string of issues plaguing the scheme, following complaints of lunches arriving late and others having melted plastic in its contents.
An investigation was launched by New Zealand Food Safety after it was notified of the incident late yesterday afternoon. It has since been expanded – at the request of the Ministry of Education – to include heating facilities used by the School Lunch Collective nationwide to ensure they are fit for purpose.
The student was allegedly taken to hospital for treatment after they were burned when the contents of the lunch spilled on their leg, Ilminster Intermediate School principal Jonathan Poole told Stuff.
“It was too hot. It dropped, it exploded and splattered all over his leg and basically gave him second-degree burns,” he said.
The lunch had been heated at an offsite heating facility.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour called Poole to pass on his apologies.
In a letter addressed to education peak bodies, the Secretary of Education’s office this afternoon said it had instructed Compass – one of three companies that make up the School Lunch Collective – that “these particular types of packaged meals cannot be served again in the programme, as they were never intended to be reheated in a commercial oven”.
Erica Stanford wanted to meet with Associate Minister David Seymour while the PM suggested parents should pack a Marmite sandwich. (Source: 1News)
The Ministry of Education said it requested the Primary Industries Ministry to “expand its investigation to include heating practices used by the school lunch programme nationwide to ensure their practices are fit for purpose”.
“We have also directed the School Lunch Collective to publish visual evidence daily of the quality of meals produced across all kitchens and to publicly report on delivery performance and meal surplus.”
‘Deeply regrettable’
In a statement, School Lunch Collective spokesperson Paul Harvey, who was also the director of the Compass Group, called the incident “deeply regrettable”.
“Our thoughts are with the student, and we wish them a speedy recovery,” he said.
“We take health and safety seriously and are talking to the school to see how we can support both them and the student.”
